What would your future-you have to say to you?
The no-pants guide to spending, saving, and thriving in the real world.
What would your future-you have to say to you?
ta·boo
-adjective
1. proscribed by society as improper or unacceptable: taboo words.
There is a societal prohibition against talking about money, especially actual money. Talking about a deal, or the hypothetical bundle you lost on the Super Bowl is ok, but discussing how much money you make, or how much you have saved for retirement is almost as bad as talking about sex. In many social circles, it’s far worse.
Money is one of the primary causes of divorce, second only to infidelity. It can cause myriad problems, including anxiety, depression, paranoia, impotence, impulse spending, gambling, social isolation, suicide, and murder. Yet even therapists hesitate to discuss finance with their patients.
Occasionally to the chagrin of my family and friends, I’ve almost completely destroyed that taboo in myself. After spending a year and a half writing about everything I do financially, I’ve found myself with very little hesitation to talk about my finances in real life. I don’t mind discussing my credit card debt, my projections on paying off my mortgage, or almost anything else, with the exception of my salary. I’ve never seen anything good come from coworkers comparing paystubs. Somebody always gets hurt feelings.
Aside from that one exception, I think it’s healthy to talk about money. How many kids launch into adulthood financially clueless because their parents wouldn’t talk about money? How many marriages could be saved if couples would talk about their financial problems before they became financial disasters?
How can you go about breaking down the mental barrier to talking about money? Starting a personal finance blog and writing three to four times per week for a couple of years isn’t a practical solution for everyone.
Start small.
Mention the fact that you have a credit card balance(assuming you do) when you are talking to a friend. Suggest a coworker appeal his property taxes, or offer a couple of tips to help your cousin negotiate her rent.
Most importantly, start having these conversations with your spouse/significant other/life partner. If you can plan to spend the rest of your life with someone, you can certainly plan to discuss one of the most important topics in your life with her. If you can’t, are you really a good fit?
Try it. Break down that taboo. Your life will be better for it.
Are you afraid to talk about money?
This is a guest post.
Most companies recognize that technology will play an increasing role in future success. That realization doesn’t necessarily mean that businesses know what type of professionals to hire. These four benefits should convince companies that they need to acquire MIS graduates.
The Internet has radically changed the way that people shop. Consumers spent about $210.6 billion buying products from online retailers. At $4,778.24 billion, the business-to-business e-commerce volume is even greater. The trend is quite clear: businesses that want to increase sales need to offer their clients online options.
Despite its popularity, e-commerce is still an evolving industry that presents several unanswered questions to businesses that want to take advantage of it. Adding an information systems manager to a technology development team makes it easier to find solutions as businesses encounter new problems.
In January 2014, hackers stole information about 110 million Target customers. In September of the same year, hackers stole information from Kmart. When companies suffer security breaches, media outlets pick up the stories and spread them across the Internet. This creates terrible public relations scenarios that can make consumers cautious of using credit cards when shopping online or at stores.
A strong computer security team is the only way businesses can stop hackers from stealing customer information. That team needs to include several types of professionals who specialize in specific areas of computer technology. Someone with an Information Systems Management degree can bring those professionals together to create a security program that outwits even the best hackers.
Companies need to cut spending and increase profits to remain competitive. Computer technology that focuses on efficiency accomplishes both of those goals. Without someone trained to build and maintain computer systems, businesses can’t keep up with competitors who understand that spending a little more money today on the right team members can lead to long-term benefits.
Businesses that don’t use computer technology to improve efficiency will likely fail to meet the needs of their customers. Either their services will suffer or their prices will go up. Either way, refusing to adopt new technology puts businesses at a significant disadvantage.
Communications plays a key role in helping businesses meet their goals. Today’s latest technology helps companies stay in contact with customers, transfer large amounts of information between offices, and develop database systems so employees and managers can access information instantly.
Improved communication technology doesn’t just happen on its own. It takes a commitment to building reliable computer networks that can transmit information securely. MIS graduates who enjoy traveling can use this as an opportunity to help businesses while exploring the world. While small businesses probably don’t need to hire a staff member dedicated to building computer networks, medium and large companies can benefit from hiring their own information technology staff members.
As technology continues to evolve, companies will need to rely on more IT professionals. What advantages do you think an MIS graduate could offer businesses in your community?
This is a guest post from Marc Chase of My Credit Group.
Dealing with a lot of unpaid debt can be a hassle on its own. Having to pay those debts when you don’t even have a job to provide you with the money to do so can be a nightmare. While you’re hunting for a job to help make ends meet, your debts continue to pile up, leaving you scrambling to find a way to take care of them before they cause you to slip further into the poor house, and leave your finances needing credit repair services.
Since you’re likely more concerned about finding a job than anything else, we put together this handy checklist of what you should do to avoid your unpaid bills and debts getting the best of you while you search for a new job.
• Apply for unemployment benefits. This should be your first order of business after you’ve lost your job, especially if you’re one of the many Americans currently living paycheck to paycheck. Unemployment benefits go a long way towards helping consumers stay on top of their bills and credit accounts. Don’t make the mistake of thinking another job is just around the corner – there’s a good chance you can’t afford to wait.
• Keep paying the minimum balance. If you’re on the verge of drowning completely in unpaid debt, you may be tempted to stop paying your bills completely, at least until you get some additional funds in your account. Do this, and you’ll find yourself in need of credit score repair before you even get that call back for a follow-up interview.
Instead, do everything you can to at least pay the minimum balance on all of your credit accounts and bills. This will ensure that your credit history doesn’t take too much of a beating, and saves you from paying even more in interest fees down the line.
• Stop spending money like you have it. Because the sad truth is, while you’re still unemployed, you likely don’t have a lot of money to spare. If you’re still living your life as though you can afford to pay for everything – eating lunch and/or dinner out more than twice a week, generally buying things you don’t NEED – now’s the time to stop.
Stop charging every purchase you make to your credit card – break them out only in an emergency. This will help keep you from sinking further into debt while you’re out looking for a way to pay for your purchases.
• Eliminate and prioritize your bills. Now’s a great time to take a long look at some of the bills you’re paying, and deciding if they’re even worth the service. That doesn’t mean you should stop paying bills you consider “less important” than others; it means looking at some of the things that might have once been necessities (a land phone line if you primarily use a cell phone, a full package TV cable bill, etc.) and re-evaluating your stance on how important they are now that you can’t afford them all. In many cases, you can get in contact with your service provider(s) and talk about ways to reduce your bill (say, cancel cable but keep internet).
This is a guest post from Marc Chase, President of Product Development for My Credit Group, a website dedicated to helping consumers with managing their credit.
About 2 months ago, Linda and I decided to go back on the envelope system for all of the parts of our budget that we aren’t able to automate.
The reason we’re doing this is because we’ve been consistently over budget when we do all of our spending on our credit cards.
The reason we switched back to using our credit cards is because it’s a royal pain in the butt to always make sure we’re carrying enough cash for groceries and gas and date night and fundraisers and cover charges, etc.
It’s still a royal pain in the butt, and we still suck at it.
But one of our envelopes is labeled “This went on a credit card” and is used for those times we forgot to grab cash before heading to the store.
In the last two weeks, that’s $500 that we forgot to bring with us.
Cash sucks.
I’m tempted to go back to using the credit card for our primary spending. Yes, we are consistently over budget, but it’s not terrible….for some odd definition of “not terrible”.
We generally seem to have about $1000 left on the card after making our last monthly payment every month. Every month. The overall balance never grows, it’s just hanging out $1000 over what we have budgeted to be paid automatically on the card.
That’s a bad thing, but….
Since I make a payment every couple of weeks, the interest is never assessed on that balance. In the last year, we’ve paid exactly $0 in interest, without any funny balance transfer deals.
By my calculations, that means our credit card has given us $1000 for free.
If we pay that off and get strict about using cash, won’t that mean our free $1000 would have to evaporate?
I like free money.
That also means that the total interest we paid in 2014 is $672.91, all to our mortgage. Even if we have a small balance we carry, we’re not paying interest on that debt, and–worst case–we could raid our savings to make it vanish tomorrow. I’m tempted to make that happen, but our savings goals are more important to me that paying back the free money.
Last Saturday, my 3-year-old rode in her second horse show. She got third place out of 4, which is pretty good for her second show.
Halloween is well under way here. Normally, I get everything set up the last weekend of September, but we went out of town that weekend to visit my sick Grandma, so things are behind schedule. Now, I’m trying to finish decorating my yard in the evenings, between work and sunset. That really cuts into blogging time.
Today, my two oldest kids are having a birthday party together. October is a crazy-busy month.
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$93 of generosity turned into $100,000 of charity. It’s an inspiring story about how the little things add up. What a way to make a difference!
The debt-settlement meany-butt-jerkfaces have to obey an entire new set of laws to keep them from lying to their customers.
I love precious metals. The only gold I own is on my ring finger, but I’ve got a small stack of silver in the house. There’s just something about a gold or silver coin that makes me want to fondle it.
Last week:
20 Lazy Ways to Save Money was in the Carnival of Money Stories.
3 Reasons You Hate Your Budget was included in the Carnival of Personal Finance.
The Magic Toilet was included in the Festival of Frugality. I love my magic toilet.
This week:
Halloween Decorations Ain’t Cheap was picked up by the Carnival of Personal Finance.
Thrifty Sucks was included in the Carnival of Money Stories.
If I missed anyone, please let me know. Thanks for including me!